Though carriers have loosened some of the reins in the last couple of years, it still can be a tricky process to get photos off your camera phone. The most common method, sending your snaps as a multimedia message to an e-mail address, costs money. Sure, you can offset individual messaging fees with a messaging plan, but that too will add a few dollars to your monthly bill. A Bluetooth file transfer is a better (and free) option, but you'll need Bluetooth on both ends. Also, up until recently some carriers restricted Bluetooth use so they wouldn't lose out on messaging fees.
But while the restrictions are no longer the case, we're always fans of more choice and Alltel yesterday announced a new option for managing your camera phone photos. Select Alltel phones now will offer a new service from Ontela called PhotoCopter. When you take a photo, PhotoCopter will automatically save a copy of the image to your home computer and online photo albums such as Photobucket, Flickr, Blogger, and Snapfish.
Sound convenient? Well, it is in a way. If you're an avid shutterbug and love to save your snaps for posterity, PhotoCopter can save you a bit of work. According to Alltel, it requires 100 keystrokes to transfer 10 pictures to a computer. That may seem to be a bit of a trivial comparison, except then you're talking about a hundred photos.
It might even save you money as well. Though PhotoCopter is $2.99 per month, that's three dollars less than Alltel's cheapest messaging plan for 300 messages a month. While you can always transfer photos with cell phone syncing software and a data cable, that method sort of defeats the purpose of being wireless.
We have to gripe that PhotoCopter is available only on the Motorola Razr2 V9m, the Motorola Rokr Z6m and Alltel's versions of the aging Razr V3. That leaves out nifty handsets such as the LG Glimmer. Hopefully, we'll see support for more models soon.
Remember when Farmer Brown would break out the 12-gauge loaded with rock salt to chase you out of his watermelon patch? Today he could take care of you and other varmints with this weaponized version of the self-stabilized unmanned mini-copter put out by Neural Robotics.
The AutoCopter uses patented "intelligent neural network-based flight control algorithms" for automated flight control, making it the easiest mini-unmanned helicopter to fly and the hardest to crash, according to an article in Defense Review.
Best of all, it's armed with the Auto Assault-12 Full-Auto Shotgun by Military Police Systems, an innovative double-ought dispenser that's pretty handy all on its own. Out of Piney Flats, Tenn., the AA-12 employs a system that reduces recoil by 90 percent, which explains why the helicopter doesn't go into an instant tailspin the second the gun is fired. Rate of fire is reportedly 300 rounds per minute out a 20-round drum.
That ought to keep you away from the sheep. Another aggie myth in the making.
(Credit:
Discovery Communications)
If it weren't for the rocket cam, we might just be tempted to get the new "Radio Control Recon Camera Helicopter" spotted on the Discovery Store. After all, we can think of no better way to irritate friends and loved ones while recording their flush-faced reactions the whole while.
The temptation to fly in every direction to avoid furious swats is almost irresistable, especially when viewed on the 2-inch LCD of its remote control from a safe distance, with two sets of blades to boot ("beginner and pro"). The video duration isn't specified, but we'd hope it would last a bit longer than the 12 seconds of said rocket.
Alas, it probably doesn't matter, for the projectile would most likely knock it out of the sky before then anyway. And even if it managed to escape that attack, it would surely be downed by one of those laser choppers.
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